Garden Confession

I may have forgotten to mention that the basil died a brutal death. We had a frost a few weeks back. I had been bringing plants in the planters inside every night, but on that particular night, I decided to use this new fangled blanket type thing that’s supposed to protect. Either it didn’t get the job done, or when J. got up in the morning and took it off it was still too cold and the plants looked like they were touched by frost. Panic took over. I decided I needed a stop gap measure till the sun warmed things up…and I pour a little warm (not hot) water on the plants. The basil got cooked right then and there on the spot. The other plants recovered.

I have a few egg cartons going with seeds for onion, spinach and sunflower. Nothing has poked through yet, and the wait is killing me.

The latest project — I have a 5 foot square patch of weeds. I decided to give sheet mulching a try. I stomped on the weeds to make them flat. Covered with one layer of compost (from the recycling plant), then a layer of cardboard (moving boxes), then another layer of compost (ran out — must go back to the plant), then wood chips (have to buy those, grrr.). After 6 months, we should have prime soil for the summer growing season and hopefully no more weeds.